Method for Selecting Elements in Textual Electronic Lists and for Operating Computer-Implemented Programs Using Natural Language Commands

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling a target program by natural language, the method comprising: providing a control program which is executed concurrently with the target program on a computing device, the control program comprising a list of natural language commands, each natural language command comprising one or more words starting with a first character and each natural language command being associated with one or more commands of the target program; generating a graphic user interface by the control program to receive inputs from a user, the graphic user interface comprising a filter field for entering characters and a list field for displaying natural language commands; receiving a plurality of inputs from the user, entered in succession, wherein each of the plurality of inputs corresponds to a character entered in the filter field; creating a subset of natural language commands comprising only those entries from the list of natural language commands that have a plurality of words, a count of words in the natural language command being equal or greater than a count of inputs received from the user, wherein each of the plurality of inputs matches in identical order the first character of a respective one of the plurality of words in each of the natural language commands, and wherein available natural language commands in the subset are progressively reduced in response to each successive input; displaying the subset of natural language commands in the list field; enabling the user to select one of the natural language commands from the subset of natural language commands displayed in the list field; and causing the target program to execute one or more commands in response to the user's selection of the one of the natural language commands in the control program.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the control program is executed as a stand-alone executable program or as an add-in of the target program.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein natural language commands in the list of natural language commands comprise at least a verb and a noun.

4. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of receiving a word count delimiter entered in the filter field, and in response thereto filtering the subset of natural language commands to comprise only those entries from the list of natural language commands, that have a plurality of words, the count of words in the natural language command being equal to the count of inputs received from the user before the word count delimiter was received.

5. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of automatically marking the first entry from the subset of natural language commands shown in the list field.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein natural language commands shown in the list field are associated with numerical positions, further comprising a step of receiving a numerical position of a natural language command shown in the list field and marking the natural language command that is associated with the received numerical position in response thereto.

7. The method as in claim 1 , wherein natural language commands are shown in user selectable order in the list field.

8. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of displaying explanatory information associated with a natural language command in the list field.

9. The method as in claim 1 , further allowing the user to label natural language commands as favorites, and displaying only those natural language commands in the list that have been marked as favorites.

10. The method as in claim 1 , further allowing the user to add custom natural language commands to the list of natural language commands and associating with each of them one or more commands of the target program to be executed.

11. The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of receiving context information from the target program in the control program and making unavailable those natural language commands that are associated with commands of the target program that are not available in the context of the target program.

12. A computer-implemented method for controlling a program by natural language commands, the method comprising: providing a list of natural language commands, each natural language command being associated with one or more commands of the program; generating a graphic user interface to receive inputs from a user, the graphic user interface comprising a filter field for entering characters and a list field for displaying natural language commands; receiving a plurality of n inputs from the user, entered in succession, wherein each of the number of n inputs corresponds to a character entered in the filter field; creating a subset of natural language commands comprising only those entries from the list of natural language commands having n or more words, wherein the respective first character of the first n words match the n inputs from the user; displaying the subset of natural language commands in the list field; enabling the user to select one of the natural language commands from the subset of natural language commands displayed in the list field; and causing the program to execute a command in response to the user's selection of a natural language command.

13. The method as in claim 12 , further comprising the step of receiving a word count delimiter input from the user in the filter field, and in response thereto filtering the subset of natural language commands comprising only those entries from the list of natural language commands having exactly n words, wherein the respective first letter of the first n words match the n inputs from the user.

14. The method as in claim 12 , wherein natural language commands in the list of natural language commands comprise at least a verb and a noun.

15. The method as in claim 12 , further comprising the step of automatically marking an entry from the subset of natural language commands shown in the list field.

16. The method as in claim 12 , wherein natural language commands shown in the list field are associated with a numerical position, further comprising a step of receiving the numerical position of a natural language command shown in the list field and marking the natural language command that is associated with the received numerical position in response thereto.

17. The method as in claim 12 , wherein natural language commands are shown in user selectable order in the list field.

18. The method as in claim 12 , further comprising the step of displaying explanatory information associated with a natural language command in the list field.

19. The method as in claim 12 , further allowing the user to label natural language commands as favorites, and displaying only those natural language commands in the list that have been marked as favorites.

20. The method as in claim 12 , further allowing the user to add custom natural language commands to the list of natural language commands and associating with each of them one or more commands of the program.

21. The method as in claim 12 , further comprising the step of receiving context information from the program and making unavailable those natural language commands that are associated with commands of the program that are not available in the context of the program.

22. The method as in claim 12 , wherein the program is a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program, or an accounting program.

23. A non-transitory computer readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute a method for controlling a target program by natural language commands as in claim 1 .

24. A non-transitory computer readable media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute a method for controlling a target program by natural language commands as in claim 12 .

25. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the list of natural language commands is stored in a database and wherein at least one natural language command stored in the database has been customized by the user.

26. The method as in claim 12 , wherein the list of natural language commands is stored in a database and wherein at least one natural language command stored in the database has been customized by the user.

27. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the step of executing an entry from the subset of natural language commands is performed automatically when the subset of natural language commands consists of one entry.

28. The method as in claim 12 , wherein the step of executing an entry from the subset of natural language commands is performed automatically when the subset of natural language commands consists of one entry.

29. The method as in claim 6 , wherein the step of executing an entry from the subset of natural language commands is performed automatically when the user enters a numerical position associated with a natural language command.

30. The method as in claim 16 , wherein the step of executing an entry from the subset of natural language commands is performed automatically when the user enters a numerical position associated with a natural language command.

31. The method as in claim 1 , wherein at least one command in the target program is associated with more than one natural language command.

32. The method as in claim 12 , wherein at least one command in the program is associated with more than one natural language command.